The Fulham star could follow a long line of Moyes success stories from the Football League.
Tom Cairney of Fulham
It is being heavily reported that West Ham United manager David Moyes is keen on bringing Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney to the club. The Scotland star has been one of the best and most consistent players in the Championship for two seasons now and Sky Sports recently reported the Hammers were willing to spend £15 million on the player. The same report also suggested that the 27-year-old wants the move, with Fulham reluctant to sell.
West Ham fans should certainly be excited at the news, as these sort of transfers are where Moyes has thrived in the past.
When he was making his name as Everton manager, some of the best signings he made were from the Football League.
He snapped up Tim Cahill from Millwall in 2004 after his impressive form in their FA Cup final season. Joleon Lescott was signed from Wolves after making the PFA championship team of the year. Phil Jagielka had made a name for himself with Sheffield United in the Championship, before signing for Everton after a year in the Premier League. Leighton Baines followed a similar trajectory as Jagielka, but joined from Wigan.
Everton’s English defender Leighton Baines (R) celebrates scoring their first goal with English defender Phil Jagielka (L)
All four of these players went on to star at Everton. Cahill, Jagielka and Baines will go down in many Evertonian’s books as some of the best to ever play their respective positions at Goodison Park. Lescott may not be popular now, but he once did enough to convince Manchester City to spend big.
Moyes also put together the deal that saw John Stones arrive at the club from Barnsley. He is now perhaps England’s best performing central defender.
Tim Cahill of Everton celebrates with manager David Moyes
The fact is Moyes more or less gets it right when snapping up talent from the Football League. Even his less successful such buys, Jermaine Beckford and Lukasz Jutkiewicz springing to mind, have gone on to have decent careers.
Cairney would be a brilliant signing for West Ham and perhaps he could go on to be the Tim Cahill moment in the transfer market for Moyes in East London.
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